Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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the school committee EMBERS or Tm: Scnooi, Comnirrnn are eler-ted representatives through whom the students may voiee their opinions and obtain aetion on matters pertaining to their interests and welfare. A Temporary Committee of returning students is eleeted by them in September. and further eleetions are held in October and at the beginning of eaeh term to seleet the eommittee for the ensuing weeks. lt is the eonvietion ot many members of the eommunity that the sphere of action has perhaps never been as broad, and the weight of responsibility perhaps never as heavy, for the School Connnittee as during the past two years. The Headmaster has frequently remarked that the 9-ehool eould seareely function without the assistanr-e of its student leaders. and has voieed his thanks for the support and eooperation whieh they have given him during his first two years as ehiet administrator. lt seems worthwhile to review at this time some of the early ideals which motivated the first student eommittee of the new sehool. The following notes are from Volume Une - Number Une of The Voyageur Ulay, 19295: Piekering College, often deseribed as the sehool of 'Old Traditions and New ldealsf is the first sehool of its kind in Canada. lt is being run under the system of student government whit-h has proved so sur-r-esstul in our universities but yvhieh has never been tried out in residential sehools . . . The Committee has . . . had eharge of the general diseipline of the sehool, but in this regard its business has been eomparatively small. Petty rules and regulations are redueed to a minimum, the publie opinion ot the group has loyally supported sueh as have been made, and in those ext-eptional eases where a member of the sehool has abused any privilege it has generally been found that this has been due t-o a laek of understanding of the basis of our life here, and that ont-e cleared up, the diftieulty has righted itself. This method of handling the diseipline has resulted in the growth here ot a true family feeling among all the members ot the Sehool eommunity. and a lack of those annoying and irritating petty problems ivhieh so easily interfere with the more serious purpose of -our life together . . . Thus you see the privileges that are ours. NVe govern ourselves and have a representative body oftieiating. lt is an interpretation in our sehool life of that well-known definition of a fl,QlTlOC'I'3iC'j'f'fii'0VGI'I1ITl611t of the people, by the people, for the people' So Ralph Connor, a member of the School Committee of 1927-1929. XVe think that these ideals have changed not at ali, and that they are sensed by every Pickering student who sits on the Committee. During this past year, we have heard criticisms, that the Committee has been too aggressive in some areas, not aggressive enough in -othersg that assemblies have sometimes laeked deeorum, and that speakers have on oeeasion been merely tlippantg that Committee polieies have been too mueh shaped by statit opinion, or have Tu elra

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PETER MUTCHLER-Two years at Pickering from Regina . . . Dramatic Club . . . stage manager for Glee Club . . . member of Princeps Club . . . Junior football . . . senior North York basketball . . . second colours . . . member of Silver team . . . plans to work for a year and then enter university. PAUL MCVITTIE-Another Leamington product, one year at the College . . . Thirty Club . . . junior football . . . captain of senior North York basket- ball team . . . softball and golf . . . member of the Silver team . . . second colours . . . plans to take the Business Administration course at Western. BRUCE PARSONS-Four years at Pickering from South Africa and Toronto . . . - Dramatic Club . . . Princeps Club . . . Camera Club . . . soccer and tennis . . . member of the Blue team . . . Quaker Cracker . . plans to complete his Upper School in Toronto and then enter university. HOWARD REYNOLDS-A two-year man from Kingston . . . member of school committee . . . fire chief . . . dance committee . . . Glee Club . . . Root of Minus One Club . . . first team football . . . captain of the first basketball team . . . lacrosse. baseball, tennis, track and field, volleyball . . . first colour holder . . . member of the Blue team . . . plans to enter Queens in Arts and then study law. JACK RUTHERFORD-From Chatham Ontario, at Pickering for six years . . . school committee . . . Quaker Cracker . . . Dramatic Club . . . Princeps Club . . . VViddrington Award winner . . . one of the instigators of the corridor reorganization . . . first team soccer . . . senior North York basketball . . . second colours . . . member of the Blue team . . . plans indefinite, but probably university and then a political career. DoUeL,xs Sums--One year at Pickering from Argentina . . . Glee Club . . . Thirty Club . . . soccer and track . . . member of the Red team . . . plans to enter Arts at Queens and then the diplomatic service. RON LTMPHREY--FPOTII Oshawa, two years at Pickering . . . school committee . . Root of Minus One Club . . . first team football and basketball . . volleyball, softball, golf, track and field . . . member of Red team . .- first colour holder . . . plans to take Commerce at Queen 's. BEN VVHITNEY-TWO years at Pickering from Kingston . . . school committee . . . Polikon Club, president one term . . , dance committee, president of Club 14 . . . first team football and basketball . . . captain of Silver team . . . lacrosse, volleyball, softball, track and field . . . first colour holder . . . plans to enter Arts at Queen 's. GORDON WILSON-One year man from Toronto . . . Root of Minus One Club . . . dance committee . . . first team football . . . manager, first basketball team . . . softball, volleyball, golf . . . first colour holder . . . member of Silver team . . . future plans indefinite. Eleven

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hewed too closely to the ideas of less responsible members of the community. These criticisms only point to the realities of our situation: seniors of Pickering College are no less infallible than any other intelligent young men, and our electorate, like that of any other democracy, is not perfectly educated or perfectly responsible. But these criticisms do not mean that the members of this year's Committee have lacked in any way cheerful willingness to accept responsibility, or have lost sight of the perfect democracy incorporating all our members, stalt' and students, towards which we strive. That project which this year in our opinion best highlights the spirit and vision of the Committee was the corridor change , the story of which is told elsewhere in this book. Indeed, since this experiment was in part inspired by editorials in the student press, it is a notable example of our democracy working at its vigorous best. So much of the flOHlIlllll69'S work, however, is less spectacular and more taken for granted. We leaf through the pages of the large red leather minute book, and from the records of last year's meet- ings Cand they were typical ot' twenty-two years of meetingsl come such items as these: term dates discussed . . . New Boys' night arranged . . . Committee is behind a renewal of relief meals . . . tire drills discussed . . . procedure ot' running new common room brought up . . . relations with town discussed . . . a Pickering student doesn't drink . . . policy for this Halloween brought up . . . concern expressed regarding increase in laundry costs . . . the Christmas card chosen . . . contribution to the local liions' Club is to be boosted . . . Chapel Services to be undertaken by the i'UlllIlllll99 . . . and so on. The list of items could be very long indeed, and retiects a concern for every aspect of our life together, Old Traditions and New ldealsul lt is to each year 's School tlommittee that we all look, as much as to any other person or group, to find a repository and a source. F. IJ. L. BE.1.eoN. MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE 19-L8 - 1949 RICKY ARNOLD fl'hurz'rmun, Y'rrnpor'rn'y Committee! BILL Baines Ross IJABOLI. fl'lecfirmun, three fermsl EUGENE Hsniusox tSecretaI'y, Temporary Committee and three 1'f'I 7ll.SQ IKE LANIER JACK RUTHERFORD TED LAwRENcn Dox Tinivuxs Howna Risvxonus RON VMPHREY B as XVHITNEY Thirteen